290 List of Indian meteorites. (With Plate XII.) By C. A. SI~.RRAD, B.A., B.Sc. Indian Civil Service (retired). [Communicated by Dr. L. J. Spencer, F.R.S., read November 1, 1932.] N the suggestion of, and with much assistance from, Dr. L. J. Spencer, Keeper of Minerals in the British Museum,1 I have examined and, as far as possible, verified and corrected the recorded places of fall of all reported Indian meteorites. The original records were consulted, and as far as possible the places found on the large scale (usually 1 inch = 1 mile) maps in the India Office. This left a residuum regarding which inquiries were made of District Officers in India, to several of whom I am indebted for useful information which has been embodied in the list. In this list the falls are entered under their original names in alphabetical order by Provinces in British India, but in one list for all the Indian States, and the positions are indicated on the map (plate XII). The correct names of the places of fall are given in each case, in some only the spelling has required correction in accor- dance with the Government of India standard system, ~ in others the vernacular name has clearly been mistransliterated, and in many cases the name of the district or province has been changed since the fall. Wherever possible the exact date and time of fall, the latitude and longitude of the place thereof, and its distance from some big place or railway station have been given. i The large series of Indian meteorites preserved in the British Museum includes representatives of 86 of the 106 recorded falls, with many exceptional specimens; e.g. the fine Parnallee stone of 60 kg. (1331b.) and the complete Nedagolla iron seen to fall. This is largely due to the help given by the Govern- ment of India and the generosity of the Director of the Geological Survey of India, with important contributions also from the Trustees of the Indian Museum of Calcutta and the Asiatic Society of Bengal. A stone of the Benares shower of 1798 was presented to the Collection by Sir Joseph Banks in 1802. --L.J.S. Sir W. W. Hunter, The Imperial Gazetteer of India. 26 vols. New edit., Oxford, 1907-1909. New (revised) edit. of vol. 26 (Atlas), 1931. C. A. SILBERRAD ON INDIAN METEORITES 291 The list includes the meteorites representing 106 distinct falls. An unusually large number of these are stones, namely 100, there being only four irons (Garhi Yasin, Kodaikanal, Nedagolla, and Samelia) and two stony-irons (Lodran and Singhur). Three of the four irons were seen to fall, there being only one found iron. This striking difference as compared with other countries, such as the United States or Australia, is doubtless accounted for by the fact that a large part of India has been thickly inhabited and cultivated for a very long period, with the consequence that most of the irons have been found long ago and used as metal. Indian meteorites are also exceptional in that nearly all of them, namely 101, have been actually observed to fall. Of the falls (83) for which the time of day is recorded 68 (81.9%) fell during the 12 hours of daylight (6.0 a.m. to 6.0 p.m.) and only 15 (18-1%) during those of night. 0. C. Farrington (' Meteorites ', 1915, p. 41) gives 194 (73.2 %) and 71 (26.8 %) as the corresponding distribution of the 265 falls for the whole world. The monthly distribution of the 97 falls for which the date has been recorded is as follows (one was recorded as in August or September, i.e. in the Hindu month Bhadon) : Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May. June. July. Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. 12 8 4 12 10 9 3 8.5 8-5 5 9 8 In fig. 1 these numbers, reduced $o percentages, are compared with those of O. C. Farrington and of P. N. Chirvinsky. Though differing to some extent there is general agreement, especially in the position of the minima., the chief difference being as regards December and January. The more violent fluctuations of the Indian curve are doubtless due to the smaller total number concerned. As some guide to the real frequency of falls the following may be of interest. In the United Provinces of the 24 falls which occurred during the century 1831-1930, 12 occurred during the first and the same number during the second half, indicating an intrinsic proba- bility of regular recording. Of the total area of the Province, 107,000 square miles, 11,000 should be deducted for the sparsely populated tracts in the Himalaya and south Mirzapur from which no falls have been recorded. This gives an average of one fall per 4,000 square miles per century, as compared with 94 recorded falls for all India and Burma (1,800,000 square miles) during the same period, or one fall per 19,200 square miles per century. It appears probable, 292 C.A. SILBERRAD ON therefore, that at least 450 falls have not been recorded. If, however, it be assumed that falls are equally likely to occur at night as by day, and that the difference is merely due to non-record of many of the former, a further addition must be made. Taking 25% as a round figure lying between the percentage of Indian night falls (18.1) and that deduced from Farrington's figures (26.8), this addition would amount to 50 %; so that, assuming all daylight falls to have been recorded in the United Provinces, the number for all India for the century would be 675, indicating that only about 14 % of falls have been recorded. The United Provinces have been selected as a basis for this esti- mate as being a compact block of territory, and, with the exception of the omitted area, a level, highly cultivated, and thickly populated (438 per square mile) tract, no part of which is, like much of Bengal, liable to periodic flooding, and which has been under fairly uniform administration throughout the period concerned, where reporting is likely to have been at least as full as anywhere in the world. ASSAM 1. Assam. Stone (brecciated grey chondrite), three pieces, total weight about 2.7 kg., found in Calcutta, 1846, supposed to have come from Assam. 2. Goalpara. Stone (ureilite), about 2-7 kg., found 1868, sup- posed to have fallen at Goalpara, 26 ~ 3' N., 90 ~ 40' E. BENGAL 1. Dokachi. Shower of over a hundred stones (spherical chon- drite), twenty-four (total weight 3.838 kg.) recovered, fell 22. 10. 1903, 7 p.m., some at Dokachi, 23 ~ 30' N., 90 ~ 20" E., 17 miles SW. of Dacca, police station Srinagar, subdivision Munshigani, district Dacca ; and some at Kolapara, Dakhin Paiksha, Hariya, Munshiya, Kukutiya, Bibandi, Bangaon, and Rana, villages from 1 mile WSW. to 6 miles ENE. of Dokachi. 2. Gopalpur. Stone (spherical bronzite-chondrite), about 1.6 kg., fell 23.5. 1865, 6 p.m., at Gopalpur, 22 ~ 40' N., 89 ~ 50" E., near police station Bagirhat, pargana Salimabad, district Khulna. 3. Muraid. Three stones (white chondrite), two recovered, 4.703 kg., fell 7.8. 1924, 2.30 p.m., one at Muraid, 24 ~ 30' N., 90 ~ 13' E., 24 miles SSW. of Mymensingh, police station Ghatail, subdivision INDIAN METEORITES 293 Tangail, district Mymensingh ; the other at Mantala, 1 mile SW. of Muraid. 4. Pirgunje. Stone (veined white chondrite), 0.842 kg., fell 29.8. 1882, at Pirganj, 25 ~ 48'N., 88 ~ 27' E., 22 miles NW. of Dinajpur, subdivision Thakurgaon, district Dinajpur. 5. Rampurhat. Stone (chondrite), 0.1 kg., fell 21. 11. 1916, 9.30 a.m., at Buripara in Rampurhat town, 24 ~ 10' N, 87 ~ 46' E., police station and subdivision Rampurhat, district Birbhum. 14 ,o\ \'...,.. ...... .,.....,/, \, I.-- \ , \ I x :':':~. ~ ~ - / V '~'-"-- ~-":--:" ... 3 ~... - . / ':--:" :~.3 L ,an. ,;~. ~r. ^pr. ~;, ~- A1. A~- S;~. 0~.... or. ~.o. Fro. 1. Percentage curves of monthly falls of meteorites. (1) 97 Indian falls since 1795. (2) 350 falls for the whole world tabulated by O. C. Farrington, Times of the fall of meteorites. Amer. Journ. Sci., 1910, ser. 4, vol. 29, p. 211; and 'Meteorites ', Chicago, 1915, p. 39. (3) 422 falls tabulated by P. N. Chirvinsky, Monatstatistik dcr Meteoritcnf~ille. Centr. Min., Abt. A, 1926, p. 239. 6. Shalka. ' An immense stone, said to have measured 3 feet across', but only 3-5 kg. preserved, fell 30.11. 1850, 4.30 p.m. 'Shalka' is probably Saluka, 23 ~ 6' N., 87 ~ 18' E., near Bhora- Dharmpur, about l0 miles SE. of Bankura, district Bankura. 7. ShOal. Stone (brecciated intermediate hypersthene-chondrite), fell 11.8. 1863, noon. Shytal is said to be in ' the Madhupur jungle, Mymensingh district, 40 miles north of Dacca ', i.e. about 24 ~ 21' N., 90 ~ 30' E. The District Magistrate of Mymensingh writes (letter dated 4.7.32) ' there is no such place in the Madhupur jungle within my knowledge '. 8. Vishnupar. Two stones (brecciated intermediate chondrite), fell 15.12. 1906, 9.30 a.m. : one, 670 g., at Kherai Bani, 23 ~ 6' N., 294 c.A. SILBERRAD ON 87 ~ 26" E., the other, 1-767 kg., at Mathura, 6 miles WSW., near Ramsagar, 16 miles SE. of Bankura, subdivision Vishnupur, district Bankura. BIHAR and ORISSA 1. Andhara. A stone, weight about 2.7 kg., fell 2.12.1880, 4 p.m., at Andhara or Ujyan, 26 ~ 35' N., 85 ~ 34' E., 4 miles NW. of Sita- marhi (police station and subdivision), district Muzzaffarpur.